1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,600
Good
morning. For those who I haven't met,

2
00:00:03,679 --> 00:00:08,920
I'm Richard Bane, Mayor Pepper Pike.
It's good to see you this morning.

3
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:16,880
Thanks for coming out on a
uh little uh cloudy Saturday morning. Uh

4
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:23,640
this is the third of three town halls
that were arranged for uh you to provide

5
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:31,519
uh comments or ask questions
of the council members who are here this

6
00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:37,360
morning. uh and uh the rules of order
here because this matter's already been

7
00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:46,480
uh placed on the ballot uh the city
officials are uh not able to advocate uh

8
00:00:42,879 --> 00:00:50,559
up or down for this. So, uh please
understand it. There are times I know

9
00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:56,399
you might want a more robust type of
statement uh from uh the officials

10
00:00:53,600 --> 00:01:02,480
sitting up here, but we are uh
restricted because of the uh uh position

11
00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:07,000
of this already on the ballot. Your
questions and comments obviously are

12
00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:11,920
very welcome. if
uh

13
00:01:09,479 --> 00:01:15,280
uh unfortunately because it's on the
ballot uh the language is going to be

14
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,479
the same, but we're still very
interested in what your questions and

15
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:24,880
comments are. And don't let that
discourage you from uh expressing

16
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:31,680
yourselves. Uh with that, uh this is
Tony Gentilli, Melanie Welman, Scott New

17
00:01:29,119 --> 00:01:40,000
uh they're the three councilmen here
this morning. Uh just as a matter of

18
00:01:36,439 --> 00:01:46,399
interest, who here has not been to one
of our first two uh town

19
00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:50,759
halls? Oh, quite a few actually. Okay.
Well, that's good to hear. That that is

20
00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:55,119
uh that's an interesting thing as we're
evaluating in the f for the future. How

21
00:01:53,280 --> 00:02:01,040
many of these, you know, do we continue
to have? Uh was it because it's on a

22
00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:05,439
Saturday as opposed to a a week night
that you're now able to be here? Did you

23
00:02:02,799 --> 00:02:11,039
just decide to defer until uh the
Saturday morning? Who just deferred? I

24
00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:14,720
deferred for Saturday. Saturday. I
couldn't make You preferred the

25
00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:19,280
Saturday. Okay. All right. That's very
uh good information to know. Uh I'm

26
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,760
going to ask my wife to please hand me
my hearing aids.

27
00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:30,400
And uh Mr. Gentilli wants to say good
morning to you and then we'll kick off.

28
00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:35,840
We have a podium there. uh just take
your turn stepping up to the microphone

29
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:40,720
and uh we'll get underway.
Thank you, mayor. Uh welcome to the

30
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:46,200
third town hall meeting to inform Pepper
Pike residents about the upcoming ballot

31
00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:51,200
issue number 17 on May 6th,
2025 regarding revisions to the Pepper

32
00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:55,360
Pike charter. Please look at the handout
package you should have received when

33
00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:59,200
you arrived. It contains an executive
summary of the commission's

34
00:02:57,239 --> 00:03:03,840
recommendations, a listing of the
recommended changes on two pages, and

35
00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:08,319
the full commission report. If you
haven't already done so, please sign in

36
00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:13,360
sign the signin sheet. That's this is
voluntary and not required. Uh you don't

37
00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:19,360
have to sign it if you don't care to.
There's there is one copy at each table.

38
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:22,959
As a reminder, uh, good governance
requires that any organization

39
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:27,319
periodically review the rules by which
it operates. This is the reason that the

40
00:03:25,599 --> 00:03:30,959
charter review commission was
established. In this meeting, your

41
00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:35,280
elected officials hope that you will be
able to make comments about the proposed

42
00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:40,239
revisions to the charter and ask
questions about those proposed changes.

43
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:44,959
The mayor and council at its last
meeting decided that the maximum that

44
00:03:42,959 --> 00:03:49,120
for the maximum number of residents to
be heard on both sides of the issue, we

45
00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:54,159
should limit the length of resident
comments to 5 minutes. If you have

46
00:03:51,599 --> 00:03:58,799
already spoken, please wait till the all
those who have want to speak have had

47
00:03:56,239 --> 00:04:04,080
the chance to do so and make their views
known or ask their questions. Comments

48
00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:08,239
will be timed and we will give a heads
up when you have spoken for four

49
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:11,799
minutes. With that, with that, let's
hear from the residents.

50
00:04:16,759 --> 00:04:27,040
Hi, Peggy Blakesley.
Um, North Deer Creek Lane, 55 years on

51
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:34,040
North Deer Creek Lane. I just have a
couple comments. First, I want to thank

52
00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,040
this is work.

53
00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:42,880
All right. First, I want to thank the
council and the mayor for choosing nine

54
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:50,000
distinguished members from our city of
Pepper Pike to review this charter. And

55
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:58,680
I also have just two questions. I want
to ask the mayor why he is so against

56
00:04:52,800 --> 00:05:06,960
this um new charter. And I also want to
say why there are some names on the list

57
00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:11,919
for voting no on the charter for people
that did not permit their name to be on

58
00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:17,280
the list. Um for instance, my good
friend Jean Seatin is pretty upset her

59
00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:21,400
name's on the list. She wasn't asked and
I'm not sure there's other members here

60
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:26,880
names on the list with the same
situation. But anyway, I just would like

61
00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:32,560
to know why the mayor is so against all
the work that this committee put

62
00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:38,840
together and the council and yourself
chose the members and I would like to

63
00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:38,840
hear why you're so against it.

64
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:49,160
Thank you, Peggy. I appreciate your
question very much.

65
00:05:50,000 --> 00:06:00,039
I'm going to try to say this in a
neutral way. Uh I can't advocate why my

66
00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:04,720
feelings may be what they are, but I can
explain. Gee, it's kind of hard in this

67
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:09,600
situation. I'm trying to I'm honestly
trying to think how I can answer your

68
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:15,720
question without appearing to be
advocating for the opposition to this.

69
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,720
Uh

70
00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:24,880
you've stated that I'm against
it. I'm actually reluctant to even say

71
00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:30,000
that here when we're not on this
platform. I'm happy to share with you or

72
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:35,120
anyone else in this room what my
feelings are about this. Uh so

73
00:06:35,479 --> 00:06:44,039
uh the there was a process that was
engaged in uh obviously uh by uh the

74
00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:47,039
council and the charter
commission.

75
00:06:50,440 --> 00:07:02,240
Uh the mayor uh did not have
an independent appointment to the

76
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,240
commission. I think that's fair to say.

77
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:11,960
Uh there were people who were voted
upon. I think that's fair to

78
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,960
say. Um

79
00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:18,639
I I don't think I can in fairness and in
respect of the advice we've given our by

80
00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:24,520
our law director that we're not to
advocate here. And I think to express my

81
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:29,759
feelings that I am either in favor or
against this on this platform, I just

82
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:33,840
don't think I can do that, Peggy. And I
apologize. I'm not trying to avoid the

83
00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:38,560
question. I very much would like to
engage about my feelings regarding this.

84
00:07:36,479 --> 00:07:45,400
This is not the platform I can do it on.
And I and I apologize to everyone about

85
00:07:41,919 --> 00:07:50,560
that. But I think that's the way it is.
Um so thank you for your question. I I

86
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:56,479
just do know that you've gone to
people's homes and asked for their vote

87
00:07:52,479 --> 00:08:01,360
no and have asked for money for your um
cause and I just was wondering why

88
00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:06,479
you're so against it. That's all. And I
completely understand your inquiry. I I

89
00:08:03,919 --> 00:08:14,160
really do. And uh I'm I'm not going to
sit here and dispute your uh reciting

90
00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:19,440
you know what outside of this form uh
what what is what I have maybe

91
00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:24,960
personally done or not but uh again I
just can't do it in this form because

92
00:08:22,639 --> 00:08:29,360
that's the rules and I'm just going to
have to be respectful of uh the advice

93
00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:36,279
of our law director. So I'm sorry. So
far as Miss Seatan, yes.

94
00:08:32,719 --> 00:08:41,120
Uh my understanding is that
uh I did not personally talk to Jean. I

95
00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:49,279
can I'm sorry. I did not personally
speak to Jean. Um my understanding is

96
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:53,839
uh the people who have organized to uh
oppose this uh did speak to Jean. So, I

97
00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:59,360
don't know what information she's giving
you, but uh I

98
00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:02,399
believe I believe she did have a
conversation with someone. That's all.

99
00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:06,480
No, that's not correct. I just saw her
the other day and she Well, I I I I

100
00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:10,320
don't know. I did not I've never spoken
to Jean about this. Okay. So, I can't

101
00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:13,519
really comment on that. But if she's one
person that's very upset her name's on

102
00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:17,760
here, I'm just wondering if Well, that
that's something that uh either you and

103
00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:23,120
the people who promoted the name and
Jean Seat herself have to speak to.

104
00:09:20,279 --> 00:09:28,160
Uh, I believe that the person who spoke
to her had a high degree of confidence

105
00:09:26,399 --> 00:09:33,160
and that's all I I don't know anything
more about that. Okay. I'm just going by

106
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:37,920
what she told me. All right. Thank you.
And Miss Mrs. Lacy, I just I want to I

107
00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:41,600
want to tell you I I do appreciate and
understand how you feel about us

108
00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:47,640
responding. It's been a challenge. which
I know in other forums at the

109
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:53,880
walkability forum we had a different
um guidance from our same law director

110
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:58,640
about how we could respond and it it
it's it's a challenge and interesting to

111
00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:04,640
me now that we can't but I that's what
we've been told. So is this law director

112
00:10:01,279 --> 00:10:09,279
on one of the sides or something? I no
the law director has no side. The law

113
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:13,880
director simply provides legal advice.
All right. Uh, is there someone else?

114
00:10:14,079 --> 00:10:21,920
Yeah, I mean to the to the pod. You
didn't want to add more to something I

115
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:26,079
know nothing about.
Uh, hi. Um, my name is Fred Wentz. Uh,

116
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:29,279
Everact resident obviously because it'd
be weird to be here if I wasn't. Um, I

117
00:10:28,079 --> 00:10:32,000
think everyone agrees the chart is a
pretty important legal document and I

118
00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:36,000
think it's important to get it right.
So, I have just some specific questions

119
00:10:33,839 --> 00:10:40,160
about specific things in the document.
So, section one, names of boundaries.

120
00:10:38,079 --> 00:10:42,640
one sentence was deleted which prevents
a council from changing the boundaries

121
00:10:41,519 --> 00:10:46,240
of pepper pie because it wasn't
consistent with state law. It's pretty

122
00:10:44,399 --> 00:10:49,680
clear that language in there was not
consistent with state law and I would

123
00:10:47,519 --> 00:10:54,160
have wanted my commission to say the
intent is good. So what language could

124
00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:58,160
be put in that is consistent with state
law but instead they just deleted that

125
00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:03,120
without any discussion as to why it's in
there in the first place. Well um

126
00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:07,279
sections 31A 41A72 which is
qualifications mayor qualifications and

127
00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:11,040
vacancies. this there's no mention of
conflicts of interest. The conflict of

128
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:15,920
interest can cause significant harm to
cities and residents in section 72 which

129
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:19,839
is vacancies. There was a slight mention
and restriction on conflict of interest

130
00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:23,279
but that was removed by the new charter.
Section 328 president of council. You

131
00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,880
should have president of council if you
want a president of council. I don't

132
00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:30,000
care but I'm for that. However, the
powers of the president should be

133
00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:34,640
limited to items involving running the
council. The new charter states dot dot

134
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:38,800
dot and I quote and shall have such
other powers and duties as established

135
00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:42,399
by ordinance. I'm actually not for
giving a member of council any kind of

136
00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:46,640
power they want by ordinance without a
vote of the voters. Power should be

137
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:52,560
listed and limited by the charter is
protective of the residents. Uh section

138
00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:55,360
39 and 48 which was removal. If council
members recommend removal of a member

139
00:11:54,079 --> 00:11:59,600
then those same members should not be
the final judge and jury. That's not

140
00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:03,360
impartial at all. There are Ohio revised
code laws to deal with this. Um, the

141
00:12:01,839 --> 00:12:06,639
council should have no ability beyond
the normal recall procedure to remove a

142
00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:10,480
mayor. The director of law mentioned
this very thing and recommended options

143
00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:13,600
for emergency impartial judicial hearing
and an immediate temporary restraining

144
00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:18,079
order against the mayor being the
superior method of handling an out of

145
00:12:15,279 --> 00:12:21,200
control mayor. Section 46 succession.
The mayor has no vote at council

146
00:12:19,519 --> 00:12:23,760
meetings. That makes sense. Sorry, Mr.
Mayor. I think he shouldn't vote at

147
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,959
council meetings. That's my thought.
However, if something happens to the

148
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:31,279
mayor, the president of council is
elevated to acting mayor while retaining

149
00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:35,360
the role of president counsel with a
vote in counsel. The charter should

150
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:38,560
prevent any path for any length of time
that would allow one individual to

151
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:42,320
directly control the executive branch,
the limited judicial powers, and the

152
00:12:40,399 --> 00:12:45,839
legislative branch. That's not a good
thing. General

153
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:48,560
provisions, and I quote, "The city shall
have a law department, a finance

154
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:51,600
department, a service department, a
police department, a city planning

155
00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:55,839
commission, and a civil service
commission. Provided, however, that the

156
00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:59,279
council may ordinate by ordinance
establish additional departments and

157
00:12:57,279 --> 00:13:03,200
commissions or divisions thereof and may
separate, divide, combine, or abolish

158
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:06,160
any department, division, or commission.
Why would the council want the power to

159
00:13:04,639 --> 00:13:11,519
dissolve the police, fire, and service
department at any time? That shouldn't

160
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:15,839
be in there. Sections 52 and 54, removal
of the mayor staff. Um, this is a little

161
00:13:14,079 --> 00:13:19,519
subjective. These sections allow the
council to arbitrarily remove me members

162
00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:23,279
of the administrative executive branch
without consulting the mayor at all.

163
00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:27,040
The subjective part is no matter how
many dotted line reports are drawn in an

164
00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:32,240
or chart, people work for and report to
the people that can let them go and the

165
00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:37,120
council can let them go. So this might
result might in all the mayor staff

166
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:40,000
actually reporting to seven different
members of council having to do what

167
00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:44,800
seven different people telling to do
which could be different. This is a well

168
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:48,000
doumented bad business practice.
City Planning Commission. Um, I don't

169
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:51,360
have a lot of comments there, but all
the external guidance has the mayor,

170
00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:54,959
city manager, or other chief executive
officer of the government on the city

171
00:13:53,519 --> 00:13:59,120
planning commission. I couldn't find no
reason to remove them. Salaries and

172
00:13:57,199 --> 00:14:02,959
bonds section six. This section
restricts trip reimbursements to when

173
00:14:01,199 --> 00:14:06,639
they're in interest of the city. Makes
complete sense. However, it does not

174
00:14:04,959 --> 00:14:09,519
restrict other reimbursements to be
within the interest of the city. I think

175
00:14:08,079 --> 00:14:12,920
all reimbursements should be within the
interest of the city. I think it's just

176
00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:18,240
an error.
Uh and they had a schedule. In

177
00:14:15,959 --> 00:14:22,000
summary, a lot of coffee. I'm shaking.
Okay. In summary, charter is simply not

178
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:26,079
near completion. I generally support
making revisions to a charter, but it's

179
00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:29,519
got to be complete. Four minutes in a
bad charter that's incomplete. I think

180
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,880
it's worse than having no charter at
all. The commission itself during their

181
00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:36,399
last meeting listed those items that
need to be completed. The items in the

182
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:40,160
list have dependencies on items in the
charter. the items in the list that

183
00:14:38,079 --> 00:14:43,120
aren't completed are dependent on the
have dependencies on the ones are

184
00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:47,040
actually in there. So, it's not complete
and I think that's that's a problem.

185
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:50,160
Some critical examples are the zoning
board of appeals and the conflict of

186
00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,519
interest sections. The commission
clearly states those are not complete. I

187
00:14:52,079 --> 00:14:58,399
think it's been rushed and I think we
need another year with real two-way

188
00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:02,399
public communication engagement. Posting
on a website, sending out mailers is a

189
00:15:00,399 --> 00:15:05,600
start, but it's clearly called out by
the National Civic League as not being

190
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,399
acceptable public engagement. It's got
to be two-way. The commission itself

191
00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:14,839
indicated there was very little public
engagement. Now, this might be a little

192
00:15:12,399 --> 00:15:19,040
administrative issue, but ordinance
202501 states and I quote that this

193
00:15:17,519 --> 00:15:21,760
ordinance is declared to be an emergency
measure necessary for the immediate

194
00:15:20,399 --> 00:15:25,839
preservation of public peace, health,
and safety of the city and its

195
00:15:22,959 --> 00:15:29,040
inhabitants. And in addition to for the
further reason that the ordinance must

196
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:32,360
be immediately effective in order
necessary arrangements.

197
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:37,680
What's the immediate
threat? That's

198
00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:42,720
Thank you. Thank you for coming this
morning. Um, as stated, we're being

199
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:48,160
fairly limited in what we can talk about
in this in this forum, but I would be

200
00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:51,920
happy to talk on the phone or meet you
for coffee. I think any of us would, Mr.

201
00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:55,440
Gentilly would because I think some of
these things would be, you know, some of

202
00:15:53,759 --> 00:15:59,040
them are are more of a conversation,
some some of them are easier ones that

203
00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:04,720
we could talk about. So, just a thought.
No, that'd be great. I welcome it. Thank

204
00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,720
you. Thank you for your time. I agree.

205
00:16:08,959 --> 00:16:13,399
I'm uh Bill Melabro.

206
00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:30,959
I'm Bill Melop. I live at
31650 Trillium Trail. I've been a

207
00:16:27,199 --> 00:16:35,880
president of Pepper Pike for 43 years
and I've been on the uh planning

208
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:42,959
commission for 12
years. I'm on the planning commission

209
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:48,639
because Mayor Bane asked me to and u my
experience with the mayor is he's been

210
00:16:45,279 --> 00:16:52,360
uh very fair and even-handed all the
issues I've been involved with with the

211
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:57,839
city.
Um he has dealt with some very

212
00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:02,320
significant
uh issues in the planning of the city

213
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:07,400
including
[Music]

214
00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:18,240
um the u issue of uh a
proposed Panera restaurant on the circle

215
00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:22,319
and u he navigated that proposal to the
extent that city was not sued.

216
00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:33,679
uh for borrowing that and uh that piece
of land at the circle turned into Morgan

217
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:45,400
Park which I think was a very a big boom
for the city. Um, another very uh large

218
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:51,160
issue was um the proposal to turn the uh
u uh

219
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:55,400
property of the
uh uh

220
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:17,280
uh the 80 acres of the pool of property.
There was a proposal to uh make a uh

221
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:22,039
uh housing and commercial development
similar to

222
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:28,120
um
Beachbrook Beach on the Beachbrook

223
00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:35,600
property, similar to
Pinerest. and he s successfully

224
00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:41,080
navigated that proposal and so the city
was not sued and um I think the result

225
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:47,480
has been a good
outcome. The third significant city

226
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:52,039
planning issue had to do with
the sisters

227
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:59,840
u of
Ursulent uh proposing more housing on

228
00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:05,720
their property and um he it was a
non-conforming use and he successfully

229
00:19:02,919 --> 00:19:13,679
navigated the
um solution of that situation with very

230
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,679
good outcome for the sisters and for the

231
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:22,799
city to take away the mayor's power of
running the u uh city and planning

232
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:30,360
commission and turning it over to the
council I think is a a very large error

233
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:33,720
in the proposed change to the
charter.

234
00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:39,440
Um and
finally, city council members are

235
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:45,840
part-time employees of the city. The
mayor is a full-time

236
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:50,160
uh employee of the city and to have
these

237
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:56,880
part-time people choose a president who
will be superior to the mayor is a a

238
00:19:53,039 --> 00:20:02,000
very bad idea and that's why I'm against
uh issue

239
00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:07,799
17. Thank you very much.
Thank you,

240
00:20:03,799 --> 00:20:07,799
sir. Well,

241
00:20:16,559 --> 00:20:24,600
Good morning. My name's Daryl Constant.
And my it may be a mood point because

242
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:31,440
charters
may vary drastically from township to

243
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:37,760
township, city to city, but I'm curious
if um since we have not updated ours

244
00:20:33,919 --> 00:20:42,720
since ' 66, um have other neighboring
townships, Shagrin Falls, Merlin Hills,

245
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:48,000
others updated theirs in more recent
years to any of the issues that are

246
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:53,280
similar to what is on our proposed
charter and have we talked to them? What

247
00:20:50,799 --> 00:20:58,280
have we learned from them about their
experiences with that? Thank you.

248
00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:08,320
Um, again, ma'am, I think that uh we
can't really advocate, so I don't want

249
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:12,240
to risk that, but uh either of us or the
mayor would be happy to discuss that

250
00:21:10,159 --> 00:21:18,400
with you uh if you want to give us a
call. Our numbers are on the uh website.

251
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:23,840
And I would just also direct you to the
executive summary that was um that's on

252
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:28,880
the website where they discuss some of
those issues, but also happy to discuss

253
00:21:26,559 --> 00:21:32,520
it, but it they do discuss other cities
and other charters.

254
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:48,640
Hi, just a uh uh a fact check on uh one
thing that you said. Uh the

255
00:21:44,919 --> 00:21:55,440
uh there has not we can confirm for you
there was not a comprehensive

256
00:21:51,120 --> 00:22:01,840
uh uh review of the entire charter by a
formal body. That that is accurate. Uh

257
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:08,480
there have been uh charter changes to
the pepper pipe charter uh since it was

258
00:22:05,039 --> 00:22:14,320
adopted in ' 66. The last one I believe
was by the city council. Well, I know it

259
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:19,440
was within the last uh uh 14 years
because uh I was there for it and it was

260
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:24,960
a uh charter change that uh occurred
regarding zoning. Okay. So, thank you.

261
00:22:22,559 --> 00:22:24,960
Anyone

262
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:38,559
else? Uh
Greg Greg Sords, 3199 Pine Tree

263
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:42,480
Road. Good morning. I'm a blueco collar
worker and a union leader. I've spent my

264
00:22:40,559 --> 00:22:46,480
career showing up, doing the work, and
standing up when something isn't right.

265
00:22:44,559 --> 00:22:49,360
A few years ago, I helped bring a union
into the city of Solen service

266
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:53,600
department because I was tired of seeing
decisions made behind closed doors

267
00:22:51,679 --> 00:22:57,120
without input, without clarity, and
without respect for the people doing the

268
00:22:55,200 --> 00:23:01,440
work. And when I look at this charter
repeal, I see the same pattern playing

269
00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:04,280
out here in Pepper Pike. Decisions made
quietly, behind the scenes, and without

270
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,799
honest
explanation. Like many of you, I was

271
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:13,120
told to just read the charter. So, I
did. But if I had only read the charter,

272
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:16,640
I would have missed a lot. Of course,
their message is just read the charter

273
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:20,320
because the contents are confusing, hard
to follow, and you don't ever see the

274
00:23:18,159 --> 00:23:24,000
bigger picture. You don't see the rush
process. You don't see the last minute

275
00:23:22,159 --> 00:23:28,159
edits, the broken promises, or the
decisions made behind closed doors.

276
00:23:26,559 --> 00:23:33,440
Thankfully, our residents are a group of
smart and engaged people. Folks had to

277
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:36,640
connect the dots themselves, asking
questions, sharing what they found, and

278
00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:40,400
digging through records and meetings
just to figure out what was really going

279
00:23:38,159 --> 00:23:45,440
on. And here's what I learned beyond
simply reading the charter. One, town

280
00:23:43,679 --> 00:23:49,200
halls were promised and even labeled
town hall month last November, but they

281
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:52,880
never happened. The charter commission
was rushed, never held public debate,

282
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:57,600
and didn't engage the community before
finalizing its work.

283
00:23:54,919 --> 00:24:02,640
Two, council rushed this onto a May
ballot, not to help residents, but to

284
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:06,080
help themselves. Mr. Gentil Gentilli
admitted November would interfere with

285
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:12,080
council campaigns and then canceled the
town halls altogether. May 2024 turnout

286
00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:17,919
was just 24%. While the November general
election was 78%. They picked a time

287
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:21,840
when fewer people would vote. Three,
council placed this on a ballot in late

288
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:26,240
January, giving residents just 10 weeks
to understand a full repeal and rewrite

289
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:29,440
of the city's founding document. Most
people didn't even know it was

290
00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:33,279
happening. And while we were scrambling
to catch up, council was still making

291
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:37,320
major edits just days before finalizing
the charter. That's not how you earn

292
00:24:35,279 --> 00:24:42,080
trust, that's how you lose
it. Four, even after all the public push

293
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:45,440
back, council refused to slow down.
People sent letters. They asked

294
00:24:43,679 --> 00:24:49,360
questions. They came to meetings. And
what did they get? Cut off,

295
00:24:47,279 --> 00:24:54,400
mid-sentence, dismissed, or ignored.
That's not leadership. That's damage

296
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:59,120
control. Five. There is still not a real
answer to the question, why now? Our

297
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,559
city is thriving. Services are strong.
People are engaged. And yet, we're being

298
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:06,240
asked to rush through a complete repeal
and rewrite of the city's foundation

299
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:10,320
with no clear explanation of what's
broken or why this couldn't wait for a

300
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:15,440
more thoughtful process. Because it's
old isn't a reason, it's a distraction.

301
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:19,120
When people ask why now and council
can't give a straight answer, we have

302
00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:22,640
every right to be skeptical. These
aren't rumors, they're facts. And just

303
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:26,960
reading the charter wouldn't tell you
any of them. People in this community

304
00:25:24,559 --> 00:25:30,360
had to ask questions, compare notes, dig
through meetings and mailers, and

305
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:35,520
explain it to each other because council
wouldn't. So today, I'm asking you to

306
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:39,440
vote no on this charter repeal. Not just
because of what's in the document, but

307
00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:43,440
because of how it was brought to us. As
a union leader, I've always believed in

308
00:25:41,279 --> 00:25:47,120
showing up, speaking out, and standing
together when leadership stops listening

309
00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:51,760
to the people they're supposed to serve.
That's what this movement is about.

310
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:55,200
Let's send a clear message. Pepper Pike
deserves better. Vote

311
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:04,960
[Applause]
no. Um, just to on a high level, I think

312
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:08,960
there were quite a number of factually
incorrect statements. Um, and I'm sure

313
00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:13,120
those weren't intentional, but probably
pro provided you were provided bad

314
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:17,520
information. I would encourage you to
find the executive summary, which is

315
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:21,039
hard to find on the website. We're
continuing to work to see if we can have

316
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:25,279
it moved to put it put in a more
prominent place, but for right now, I

317
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:29,520
would encourage you to look at the
Charter Review Commission's

318
00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:33,440
um explanation for a lot of these
things. Also, I would encourage you to

319
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:39,279
reach out to members of council who
would be happy to discuss these issues.

320
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:44,559
Um, kind of get down to the facts and
not, you know, hypothesis. So, I think

321
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,559
that would be a a way to move forward.
Thanks.

322
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,480
Does anyone else wish to come?

323
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:08,000
Good morning. Good morning. My name is
Bruce Constant.

324
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:12,960
You stop. Is there one? It's on, I
think. Just get a little closer maybe.

325
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:18,440
Thank you. My name is Bruce Constant and
I'm a new resident here in Pepper

326
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:25,760
Pike. I
think you'll help. He's tall.

327
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:29,960
Was taller. Okay.
Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm a new

328
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:35,360
resident been here just got about three
years and I'm guilty. I have not

329
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:38,559
attended this meeting or any of the
meetings about it, but I've been reading

330
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:41,840
reading a little bit about it and so
forth about it. Talked to a few

331
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:45,360
neighbors, but I don't know a lot of
neighbors. I'd love to meet anybody or

332
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:50,279
whatever about it. To know your
neighbors is to know your neighborhood.

333
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:55,600
Um, with that being
said, I guess my general understanding

334
00:27:53,120 --> 00:28:01,520
of this here and what I'm seeing and
what I'm hearing is that public

335
00:27:58,159 --> 00:28:07,399
information about such an issue as
changing your charter, which affects

336
00:28:03,919 --> 00:28:15,200
every part of your governance. And the
public deserves not an opportunity to

337
00:28:12,159 --> 00:28:19,840
have small meetings in consideration or
committee or anything to go do the study

338
00:28:17,279 --> 00:28:23,279
come back and then make decisions to do
it and then it's going to come to a

339
00:28:21,279 --> 00:28:27,360
ballot and that's where we get the
chance to exercise the decision.

340
00:28:25,039 --> 00:28:32,480
Obviously with that type of input you're
going to have people in your community

341
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:37,360
are saying yes no right away with what
you're d driving or my understanding is

342
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:40,640
now is that you got a lot of people
that's giving false information

343
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:46,240
information not enough understanding and
so forth. So those are considerations. I

344
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:50,320
guess this when I hear and I've attended
God through my whole career, a lot of

345
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:55,120
town hall meetings, city council
meetings and so forth or whatever

346
00:28:52,399 --> 00:28:58,320
township town hall meetings and so forth
and I've been on your side and I've been

347
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:05,440
on this side in terms of my position
with those. One thing I I do say is that

348
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:10,960
right now what I'm hearing is that this
is in a process very close to us. Well,

349
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:16,200
if it's going to vote on May 6th, a
decision is going to be made. This is in

350
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:22,440
a process at this point
that people have to get a dialogue with

351
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:30,080
this public
officials to get a good me open meeting

352
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:34,320
that everybody hears. Not that I'm I'll
meet with you about this and we can

353
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:38,600
discuss this in more detail.
There's a lot of stuff in here that even

354
00:29:37,039 --> 00:29:42,480
discuss in public
detail that you can do that's could be a

355
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:46,640
whole night meeting with me if it would
be because I don't understand a lot of

356
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:52,320
it. The second thing is is that I get
very much

357
00:29:47,799 --> 00:29:56,640
concerned when I'm deferred to I can't
say this or I can't give too much

358
00:29:54,159 --> 00:30:04,399
information on it because the legal end
of my job or my position structured me.

359
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:07,760
That's dangerous. That's very dangerous.
And what I'm concerned about is that's

360
00:30:05,919 --> 00:30:13,440
what I'm hearing.
I

361
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:20,720
think no, we need to have an ability to
have why. Mayor, I haven't met you or

362
00:30:17,799 --> 00:30:25,760
anything. Why if there if you do have an
opposition that you can say I'm against

363
00:30:23,279 --> 00:30:32,640
it because this is wrong for my people
that elected me. This is right because

364
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:37,320
here my position is this. Every one of
you that's elected by all of us who

365
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:42,559
voted is saying
that I read this and I understand it but

366
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:48,279
it's complicated. This is a big issue.
Regardless of what all of our neighbors

367
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:52,559
cities or whatever is doing this Pepper
Pike things are different here what we

368
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:57,919
want it to be as far as future. Yes, I'm
include myself as we because hell I

369
00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:02,000
bought property here. I'm interested in
interaction. I'm interested in a whole

370
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:05,679
lot of issues that going forward,
especially in our international and

371
00:31:03,679 --> 00:31:12,240
national formats.
I'm done. I think another minute I'll

372
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:16,399
say this close. I'm interested in this
climate that is a country that we're

373
00:31:15,039 --> 00:31:21,039
dealing with that issues that going to
be affecting my grandkids who also live

374
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:25,279
in this area, my family and so forth is
coming forward and I need to know that

375
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:30,320
the governor has checking balances on
each part of his governance. So that's

376
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:34,720
not a closed room I'll meet with you or
whatever type of situation. That's a

377
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:38,320
situation that more public meetings and
understanding need to be brought forth

378
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:41,480
as some kind of structure. Thank you for
hearing me.

379
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:51,200
Thank you sir for the comments and let
me just clarify because uh your uh

380
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:57,200
comments did bring up an issue that uh I
can't comment on the

381
00:31:53,880 --> 00:32:00,799
uh the reason that you know we are
sitting here restricted and I mentioned

382
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:07,360
that the law director had advised it
just so that everyone's

383
00:32:03,159 --> 00:32:13,279
clear if this town hall had occurred
prior to the placement on the ballot

384
00:32:11,279 --> 00:32:18,880
We could have had the exchange perhaps
you wanted to have, but because it's on

385
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:24,080
the ballot now, that is the re that it
was voted on to be on the ballot in

386
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:30,159
January. That is what is imposing this
uh break on uh these council members

387
00:32:27,679 --> 00:32:35,480
being able to uh and myself being able
to respond uh maybe more forthrightly to

388
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:42,720
some of your questions or comments.
So that that is just so you know uh the

389
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:48,159
reason why there is that uh governor on
uh the expanse of any response we can

390
00:32:45,519 --> 00:32:53,840
give to you.
doesn't make much sense.

391
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:58,399
So, and just as a clarification, it's
it's been a point of frustration, I

392
00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:05,279
think, for all of us. Um, this is a
different reading, a a broader reading

393
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:09,919
of that uh of of that provision, I guess
I would say. And this is not how we

394
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:14,240
operated um when we had the walkability
vote, which was after it was put on the

395
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:19,760
ballot. So, it's it's been a a real
frustration for us. and um getting

396
00:33:17,039 --> 00:33:25,360
information out I think is paramount. I
I personally am frustrated by that. Um

397
00:33:23,039 --> 00:33:29,679
even even like as I mentioned even the
ability to find things on the website.

398
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:33,880
So I think we have to continue to see if
we can improve that.

399
00:33:37,159 --> 00:33:44,960
I Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. I I just want to
explain

400
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:50,240
that at the beginning of this process,
we were told on council that we would

401
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:55,120
have these town hall meetings prior to
the council voting on what went on the

402
00:33:52,600 --> 00:34:00,039
ballot. We had an opportunity to do that
in council, but five of my colleagues

403
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:04,399
decided they didn't want that to
happen. I was disappointed by that. I'm

404
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:11,119
hoping that the next time we have a
charter review, we can improve it. I I

405
00:34:08,399 --> 00:34:15,040
hope and I know my colleagues I council
are sick and tired of hearing me talk

406
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:20,800
about the National Civic League, but I
think it's worthwhile to take a look at

407
00:34:17,359 --> 00:34:24,879
what that organization has studied in
charter reviews in many many cities

408
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:29,760
around the country. There are a lot of
good practices in there and I think uh

409
00:34:28,079 --> 00:34:34,320
the city of Pepper Pike could benefit
from many of

410
00:34:31,399 --> 00:34:40,240
those. But it's been the process that
has frustrated me and u I think that's

411
00:34:38,399 --> 00:34:47,599
something to take into consideration. I
think the the commission they worked

412
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:53,359
very hard. Uh they did good work and I I
I don't want to in any way say anything

413
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:59,640
negative about that but I think the
process needed to be improved.

414
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:04,160
And just to clarify again because I I
respectfully that this was not the

415
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:08,079
process we had during the walkability
when

416
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:11,440
nobody had any question about when our
town halls were. It was after it was on

417
00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:15,839
the ballot. It was never a problem
according to our law director. I know

418
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:21,839
you never had any objection to that at
that point. And um we have we have

419
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:29,079
aligned ourselves and Mr. Gentiley has
confirmed that with the National Civic

420
00:35:23,599 --> 00:35:29,079
League. Um, so that's that's

421
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,400
Yes, sir. for

422
00:35:41,119 --> 00:35:50,040
good morning. Do you hear me? Okay.
Am I working out? I don't know.

423
00:35:52,560 --> 00:36:01,119
It'll be fine. Push it a little closer.
Testing one. Okay.

424
00:35:58,079 --> 00:36:09,680
All right. My name is Bert Randall. I I
live at 3450 Lander Road. I've been in

425
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:14,160
the city for 47 years. Uh I don't think
this is a complicated situation.

426
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:19,200
Actually, my experience is this. I've
been here 47 years. Everything, as far

427
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:23,599
as I'm concerned, everything's been
hunky dory. I got no I have no

428
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:29,520
complaints about anything. Our rubbish
is good. Our police is service is good.

429
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:37,160
The streets are good. Everything seems
to work okay for me. Uh I'm looking at

430
00:36:34,079 --> 00:36:43,599
this charter uh
situation. It looks very

431
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:48,079
complicated. Uh there's a lot of changes
that would be made and I feel there

432
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:54,400
would be a lot of unintended
consequences.

433
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:59,680
So, I'm against it. Uh I I don't think
it's broke. I don't think our present

434
00:36:57,359 --> 00:37:02,280
system is broke, our charter. And if it
ain't broke, I don't think it needs to

435
00:37:01,599 --> 00:37:07,760
be
fixed. It's a simple situation. To me,

436
00:37:05,119 --> 00:37:13,240
it looks like a simple decision. I'm
going to vote no. Thank you. Thank you.

437
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:26,320
I was not going to speak,
but it's first of all, what's your name?

438
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:29,760
Your name, please. My name is David
Sake. I'm I'm on Gates Mills

439
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:40,880
Boulevard. I'm I'm really thoroughly
disappointed in this forum.

440
00:37:36,839 --> 00:37:45,839
Um, I understand the the leg legality or
supposed

441
00:37:42,119 --> 00:37:52,079
legality, but um, this seems to me that
it's just been a a forum for people to

442
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:57,640
rally on one side or the other. It's not
I mean, I could have stayed home, watch

443
00:37:54,680 --> 00:38:03,079
cartoons.
Um, so that's that's number one. It's

444
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:07,640
very disappointing.
Um, the other thing is I know in my

445
00:38:06,079 --> 00:38:13,839
personal
life maybe maybe if if it's not broke,

446
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:20,320
don't fix it. So I guess I shouldn't
have looked at uh legal papers over the

447
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:25,920
years and updated those. Um, and I know
I don't have anything that dates back to

448
00:38:22,079 --> 00:38:30,880
1960 or '66 whenever this was formed,
but it seems like it would be a good

449
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:36,400
it's good practices to look at legal
documents and update them when and where

450
00:38:34,079 --> 00:38:42,320
it's needed. I mean, my life has changed
over the last 34 years that I've been in

451
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:49,839
this this city, and I know I've updated
my my own personal uh legal papers more

452
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:57,520
than once. Um, and I would think that it
would be the same thing for the

453
00:38:53,320 --> 00:39:01,680
city. So, um, it's just disappointing.
It's very disappointing that that we

454
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:07,040
shouldn't know what you think and what
you think and why, you know, not just

455
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:12,000
the fact that you're you're against it
and you're for it, whether that's

456
00:39:09,119 --> 00:39:18,000
reality or not. I'm just using that as
an example. Uh, but I want to know why.

457
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:24,320
and for me to take extra time to meet
with you, that's that's all

458
00:39:20,119 --> 00:39:29,920
fine, but um shouldn't be necessary.
This is the reason I came here was to

459
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:35,200
find out more details coming from the
people up there. And uh it it seems to

460
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:40,720
me that if it happened before on the
walkability, it should be able to happen

461
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:48,280
now. and whatever uh you was looked up
by the um uh legality. I it I I would

462
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:54,480
assume that it would have been looked up
before. So um

463
00:39:51,560 --> 00:40:01,000
just this has just been a forum for for
people that are for it or against it. Um

464
00:39:57,599 --> 00:40:06,960
and as opposed to finding out more more
reasons, concrete reasons other than

465
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:09,960
something put out on a a piece of paper.
So,

466
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:18,960
[Applause]
I agree with David. Why Why is the law

467
00:40:17,359 --> 00:40:24,079
director
putting these restrictions to to all of

468
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:29,440
you?
Peggy, first I you're going to have to

469
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:35,040
wait because other people
we just respectfully ask you not to just

470
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:38,560
call out from the audience.
Gibson, is there anyone else since Miss

471
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:44,359
Blakesley's already been to the
microphone? Is there anyone else first?

472
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:48,359
You've already been I I just don't
understand what

473
00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:56,560
Good morning. My name is Vera Barta
Savage 29600 Shaker Boulevard. Um, the

474
00:40:54,480 --> 00:41:02,160
Pepper Pie Council has shown time and
again that their decisions are driven by

475
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:07,839
more by personal power and internal
agendas than by the will or input of the

476
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:12,079
residents that are supposed to who
they're supposed to

477
00:41:09,319 --> 00:41:17,920
represent. This proposed charter is not
only not about progress, it's about

478
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:22,400
control. The council states that this is
about future governments in Pepper Pike,

479
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:27,720
but truthfully, I'm concerned about
today and the near future. I am not

480
00:41:25,240 --> 00:41:33,680
fear-mongering, as the council sometimes
says. The facts speak for

481
00:41:30,599 --> 00:41:38,960
themselves. Um, I attend many council
meetings more than I would want to. I

482
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:45,599
know firsthand what how this council
ticks. I have a few two examples in the

483
00:41:43,359 --> 00:41:51,200
recent future that have affected
residents that you know that are really

484
00:41:49,119 --> 00:41:57,119
concerning. They're very small, but this
is how the council works. The first one

485
00:41:53,520 --> 00:42:02,319
is during a council meeting, our coun
city council abstained from voting on a

486
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:07,000
resident who has dedicated over 40 years
on the planning commission just because

487
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:11,520
they didn't like the vote uh the mayor's
nomination. The majority of the council

488
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:17,680
obviously coordinate co coordinated
their absentee um abstains in private

489
00:42:15,359 --> 00:42:22,640
which goes against the sunshine laws
that require city business to be

490
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:27,359
discussed in public. The council even
refused to talk about the nominee that

491
00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:33,119
Mayor Bane brought to vote. This wasn't
about qualifications. It was a political

492
00:42:30,079 --> 00:42:37,920
power move. Only after Mayor Bane's
urging did one council member change

493
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:42,720
their abstain vote so the resident could
serve. This is sad and disrespectful to

494
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:48,319
a resident that has given over four
decades of his time.

495
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:54,319
So, my second example is um the city
council recently re reversed a five-year

496
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:59,599
ordinance on digital signs after denying
a request from the Garfield Memorial

497
00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:05,520
Church, a historical institution that
has been in Pepper Pike since the 1800s.

498
00:43:03,359 --> 00:43:10,800
Despite this denial, the council changed
the rules for existing signs at

499
00:43:07,839 --> 00:43:16,800
Landerwood shopping plaza, allowing
stricter control over um advertising

500
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:21,680
display. Also, if the current Lander
Landerwood sign is destroyed again,

501
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:28,480
which has happened um already twice when
a bus hit it, the new rules would

502
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:33,680
severely limit its placement. Uh this is
really really concerning. these small

503
00:43:31,119 --> 00:43:38,560
little things. These actions by this
council make one thing clear. If this

504
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:43,280
charter is passed, it will open the door
to a lev level of government overreach

505
00:43:41,359 --> 00:43:48,640
which we have not yet seen in Pepper
Pike. This process for uh charter

506
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:53,920
replacement has been rushed as residents
have attested to. The language is

507
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:59,440
unclear as in the red line that others
have talked about today. and the power

508
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:06,400
it grants without a doubt as described
in my couple samples um provide provided

509
00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:12,560
here is overreaching. The only correct
vote for issue 17 is no and I advise

510
00:44:09,839 --> 00:44:15,680
everyone to vote no on issue 17. Thank
you.

511
00:44:13,780 --> 00:44:21,599
[Applause]
Um I my response is not going to be

512
00:44:17,839 --> 00:44:25,520
regarding the charter um issue 17
anything like that. So but I do feel

513
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:31,040
like I need to respond. There were a
couple statements made about um council

514
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:35,880
violating sunshine laws and some sort of
power move related to an appointment.

515
00:44:33,839 --> 00:44:42,640
There was also statements um about
council I don't know hypothesis

516
00:44:38,599 --> 00:44:46,720
conspiracy theory um about uh the sign
ordinance. I can assure everybody that

517
00:44:44,720 --> 00:44:52,400
all of these things were talked about in
public meeting on multiple occasions. Um

518
00:44:50,079 --> 00:44:56,240
there was robust discussion and this was
part of the work of council. If anybody

519
00:44:54,240 --> 00:45:00,720
ever wants to discuss the sign
ordinance, I know that's not really very

520
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:06,319
interesting to most people, but I'm
happy to discuss that here. I'm happy to

521
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:09,280
discuss that on the phone. I'm happy to
meet you or you can come to one of our

522
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:14,079
meetings and I'm happy to talk about
either that or our appointments. Um, you

523
00:45:12,319 --> 00:45:19,560
know, and I encourage you to reach out.
But I I just I just don't want to hear

524
00:45:16,319 --> 00:45:25,040
false things said about console um or
allegations kind of leveled at console

525
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:28,400
or really anybody without any sort of
proof. It's it's it's just disheartening

526
00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:31,400
and it's a sign of the times. But
thanks.

527
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:42,880
I don't I don't feel that when you are
in council and everybody abstains at the

528
00:45:39,599 --> 00:45:48,800
same time that is not a coincidence.
There was discussion before. The only

529
00:45:45,839 --> 00:45:56,720
reason was because Mayor Bane brought
Dr. James Taylor for a nomination. That

530
00:45:52,960 --> 00:46:01,280
is totally clear. I mean, it is not that
you

531
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:06,240
um how can you say that although and no
one would discuss it? No one discussed

532
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:11,200
it. You would not even give eye contact
to the mayor and he asked. He was

533
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:17,599
leaning over. No discussion. This man
gave 40 years of his life and he's done

534
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:22,720
a very good job. As a resident, I was
appalled and also the sign ordinance. I

535
00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:27,720
contacted the church and told them that
I felt that they were disrespectful to

536
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:33,680
the church has been here since the
1800s. They have not, you know, you have

537
00:46:31,119 --> 00:46:38,880
not given them a chance. That sign would
not even it's across the street from a

538
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:44,480
bank. There's nothing that is a problem.
So anyway, um you know this this bit

539
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:49,720
about you know that I'm giving
conspiracy theories is totally wrong.

540
00:46:51,740 --> 00:46:59,880
[Applause]
Thank you. Is uh anyone else wish to

541
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,880
speak this morning?

542
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:21,560
Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Good morning.
Good morning. I'm Mark Hennessy. I'm a

543
00:47:17,319 --> 00:47:27,599
37year resident of Pepper Pike. U let me
begin with my conclusion.

544
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:33,720
My conclusion is that I urge a no vote
on the charter amendment because uh it

545
00:47:30,319 --> 00:47:39,119
reflects a flawed uh charter review
process. Uh it dra it drastically

546
00:47:37,119 --> 00:47:44,480
reduces council power at the mayor's
expense and has and potentially

547
00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:49,599
undermines the high level of services
that we are now enjoying from the uh

548
00:47:47,119 --> 00:47:54,960
city of Pepper Pike. Uh, and just a word
about the high level of services with

549
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:59,440
which I, as a resident, am delighted. I
mean, the police and the fire

550
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:03,599
department, they're doing a great job.
They're keeping us safe. They're

551
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:07,880
respectful. Uh, we got no lawsuits about
them. Thanks to the law director,

552
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:13,599
probably all good there. The service
department, wonderful. They're

553
00:48:09,839 --> 00:48:18,560
dependable. They pick up uh refues. They
they plow the streets. Uh, all per all

554
00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:22,960
wonderful services. uh you know
admirable services uh probably better

555
00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:29,960
than any other communities in the area.
Um the city is developing an

556
00:48:26,240 --> 00:48:36,720
architecturally appropriate way.
Uh financially the city's in good shape.

557
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:42,160
I mean we have these reachout activities
by the city uh that help to build

558
00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:47,599
community spirit within the city. I mean
we have taste of pepper pike and movies

559
00:48:44,079 --> 00:48:51,160
and all that is by itself small but
helps helps to build the community

560
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:57,640
spirit and that's all
good and uh so the way I look at it is

561
00:48:55,680 --> 00:49:03,599
when it comes to charter
amendments resident satisfaction with

562
00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:09,040
pepper bike service is important because
it means that any proposed material

563
00:49:06,319 --> 00:49:13,760
changes in the in the charter have a
high burden of persuasion and very high

564
00:49:11,359 --> 00:49:18,880
burden of persuasion. They must
convincingly demonstrate that the

565
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:25,040
proposed changes that are being made do
not present a significant risk of

566
00:49:22,119 --> 00:49:29,440
undermining the city services that we
are now

567
00:49:27,240 --> 00:49:35,599
enjoying. And I don't think this
proposed charter amendment uh overcomes

568
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:40,160
that burden. It would drastically change
the balance of power between the mayor

569
00:49:37,839 --> 00:49:44,359
and the council. It would reduce the
mayor's authority. while at the same

570
00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:49,359
time increasing council's
authority. That should be no surprise

571
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:55,440
because council has pursued this project
by setting up the uh charter review

572
00:49:52,520 --> 00:50:00,440
process, handpicking the members of the
charter review commission. Yeah, the

573
00:49:57,359 --> 00:50:06,480
mayor had one vote out of eight.
um and members of the council playing a

574
00:50:03,359 --> 00:50:12,000
prominent role uh in the discussions of
the charter review commission in direct

575
00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:17,599
violation of the city citic league guide
or charter review commissions. Uh with

576
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:22,559
this with the realignment of the balance
of power the continuation of the high

577
00:50:20,720 --> 00:50:28,319
level of city services that we have come
to expect would be uncertain and at risk

578
00:50:26,240 --> 00:50:32,440
under the pro proposed charter
amendments. Let me give you five

579
00:50:30,240 --> 00:50:36,720
examples of why that's why that's the
case.

580
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:40,960
One, the proposed charter would reduce
the mayor's crucial role at council

581
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:44,880
meetings. He no longer would preside uh
and therefore couldn't set the agenda.

582
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:51,119
There would be a new position in charge.
Council president elected by council,

583
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:55,599
not by the voters uh who would preside.
Number two, the proposed charter would

584
00:50:53,520 --> 00:51:00,480
authorize council to remove the mayor
from office uh under removable cause,

585
00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:04,319
which is a definition which has some
very

586
00:51:01,319 --> 00:51:09,839
vague standards and some of them and and
could therefore be

587
00:51:06,599 --> 00:51:14,240
abused. Number three, that the proposed
charter would authorize council to fire

588
00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:18,240
the lock director and the treasurer
without the mayor's consent, but the

589
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:22,160
mayor could not do that without the
council's consent. That makes little

590
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:29,680
sense.
Four, the proposed charter would require

591
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:33,760
consent of council for the mayor to
appoint the heads of the fire, police,

592
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:38,400
and service departments. All those
departments are running perfectly now. I

593
00:51:36,079 --> 00:51:44,640
mean, as I as I see it from the
standpoint of a resident receiving those

594
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:48,800
services. And then the fifth, the
amendment pertains to the city planning

595
00:51:46,319 --> 00:51:53,680
commission. Four minutes. I got Okay, I
only have one minute left.

596
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:59,040
Okay. Um
uh this planning commissioner deals with

597
00:51:56,319 --> 00:52:04,079
matters like design, alteration, public
structures, zoning ordinance, appeals,

598
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:09,040
that sort of thing. The proposed charter
provides for a takeover of control of

599
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:13,720
the city planning commission by council
uh and removal of the mayor from that

600
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:19,280
role.
Uh the planning commission as far as I

601
00:52:16,319 --> 00:52:23,119
can see seems to be working fine. Uh the
city is developing steadily and

602
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:26,800
architecturally develop a way with a
proposed radical change in the

603
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:31,760
commission. There's no assurance that
will continue to perform at that high

604
00:52:28,559 --> 00:52:38,319
level. Uh and the and the basis in
insufficient basis for recommending the

605
00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:42,480
change. So in some and we have maybe 30
seconds

606
00:52:39,720 --> 00:52:46,559
remaining the cumulative impact of these
proposed changes is that the mayor's

607
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:51,839
authority would be materially diminished
and so would his ability to manage the

608
00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:56,000
city city affairs with corresponding
uncertainty regarding future perplex

609
00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:58,240
services to its residents. Thank you
very

610
00:52:59,340 --> 00:53:07,559
[Applause]
much more speakers this morning.

611
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:19,920
I hope none to speak today um because I
don't like public speaking at all. My

612
00:53:17,839 --> 00:53:25,920
name is Stephanie Jarrett and I live on
Chattam Road, 2875 Chattam Road and I

613
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:31,119
was a member of the Charter Review
Commission. Um, which means and for you

614
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:35,599
folks who came here to get information,
this is I I'm so sorry. I mean, I I'm

615
00:53:33,119 --> 00:53:41,520
not responsible for this this process,
but I'm so sorry. I wish I could take an

616
00:53:39,599 --> 00:53:46,480
hour and stand up here and tell you what
the provisions truly say and why we

617
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:49,839
decided on them. and you don't like
them, vote against them. That's why we

618
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:55,680
vote. But I really wish you just had the
factual information. Um, we weren't

619
00:53:52,559 --> 00:53:59,520
responsible for the process. We were we
applied to be on this position on this

620
00:53:57,599 --> 00:54:04,960
commission. I applied because some
people encouraged me to do so. Um, I

621
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:08,880
thought it would be a really good civic
and intellectual exercise for a city

622
00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:13,680
that I really love and care about. And
it was. I didn't know any I knew I knew

623
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:17,760
I had only met no I only had met two
other people on out of the nine people

624
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:21,200
and I met some really terrific people
and we worked really hard on it and we

625
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:26,960
made recommendations that we thought
would be good for the city and then they

626
00:54:22,720 --> 00:54:31,520
went to council and beyond that I mean I
I just can't you know the process is

627
00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:37,680
frustrating. You came to hear what it
says and you're not hearing it. Um and

628
00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:42,400
it's frustrating because it's true. I
went I went to the

629
00:54:39,319 --> 00:54:46,559
walkability town halls and there was so
much information, the mayor and the law

630
00:54:44,079 --> 00:54:52,000
director describing, you know, how it
would work and why it was a good thing.

631
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:55,599
And um it was already on the ballot then
and those were very informative and the

632
00:54:53,839 --> 00:54:59,599
word everybody likes to use robust. And
now the law director gives the advice

633
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:03,280
that because this is on the ballot,
nobody can say anything. Nobody can give

634
00:55:01,359 --> 00:55:07,599
an opinion. Nobody can tell you what
it's about without it being biased. It's

635
00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:12,640
just really frustrating. So, just from
that standpoint, I'm not responsible for

636
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:16,440
that, but I apologize. Um, for the
gentleman who said everybody's telling

637
00:55:14,720 --> 00:55:20,400
you to to read the
charter, that's it's hard. It's hard to

638
00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:24,880
read that red line that was mailed to
everyone. I would encourage you to read

639
00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:29,200
our report. Um, you may not agree with
everything in it, but at least really

640
00:55:26,400 --> 00:55:33,440
does explain, it's not that long, why we
made the decisions we made. The report

641
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:38,160
has been buried on the city website, but
if you go to ww.perpikecharter.com,

642
00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:42,880
pepperpikecharter.com. It's It's readily
available with one click. And so take a

643
00:55:40,559 --> 00:55:45,040
look at that. And if any and I know
everybody's saying, "Well, I don't want

644
00:55:43,839 --> 00:55:49,359
to have to go talk to somebody else."
But if anybody has questions, I'd be

645
00:55:46,640 --> 00:55:53,440
happy to try to answer them. Um, just a
couple things that were said. I I can't

646
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:58,000
go through everything in five minutes,
but someone said we didn't address

647
00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:02,480
conflicts of interest. We got input from
the public. A lot of we didn't get a ton

648
00:56:00,720 --> 00:56:06,640
of input, but there were several that
said, "Let's talk about conflicts of

649
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:11,200
interest in the charter." The law
director told us that's not appropriate.

650
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:15,200
Conflicts of interest are covered by
Ohio law, so it shouldn't be in the

651
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:18,640
charter. So, you know, that was not
incomplete. That was not something that

652
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:23,400
we neglected to do. And if you read our
report, it will say why we didn't

653
00:56:20,640 --> 00:56:30,040
include that in the charter.
Um, let's see. President of council.

654
00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:35,440
Folks, this is something that about
85% of the chartered cities in Kaga

655
00:56:32,799 --> 00:56:40,880
County have a president of council. It's
not some crazy thing. And yes, they are

656
00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:44,880
not. The person who becomes president of
council is elected by us. We've elected

657
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:48,839
them as a council person. We don't vote.
We want this one to be the president of

658
00:56:46,559 --> 00:56:53,359
council. Council chooses their own
president. That's just the way it's done

659
00:56:50,880 --> 00:57:00,079
everywhere. So, you know, we don't make
that decision. But it's not an unusual

660
00:56:56,400 --> 00:57:03,760
thing to have a president of council. Um
council has told us they'd operate more

661
00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:07,240
efficiently and they think that the
meetings would run better because they

662
00:57:05,359 --> 00:57:12,480
could collaborate with the mayor on the
agenda. And so I don't to have a

663
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:18,400
president of council run a council
meeting. That seems logical to me. Um

664
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:22,599
separation of powers is you've got the
legislative branch and the executive

665
00:57:20,240 --> 00:57:28,480
branch.
Um, so many other things. Uh, gosh, on

666
00:57:26,880 --> 00:57:34,000
the removal of the law director and the
finance director,

667
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:38,400
um, we re our our charter is silent on
how they're removed. Several other

668
00:57:35,520 --> 00:57:43,200
charters we looked at had the law
director and the finance director being

669
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:48,760
removed the same way they are chosen by
the mayor's nomination and council's

670
00:57:45,839 --> 00:57:53,680
approval. So, we thought that made some
sense. Um, some a lot's been made saying

671
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:59,440
you can remove the finance director and
the law director without due process or

672
00:57:56,160 --> 00:58:03,680
without um grounds for removal. Of
course, they are employees. For you,

673
00:58:01,599 --> 00:58:08,440
those of you who have businesses, you
don't need grounds for removal or a due

674
00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:13,680
process
to dismiss an employee. Um, and in

675
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:17,440
reality, these provisions are never
going to kick in. If there is a problem,

676
00:58:15,359 --> 00:58:20,960
a mayor has a problem with a financer or
a law director to whom they do still

677
00:58:19,599 --> 00:58:26,880
report, you're going to see a
resignation so that there's no laundry

678
00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:30,490
aired and there's no legal risk. So,
thanks very much. I'm sorry. Thank you.

679
00:58:29,359 --> 00:58:39,160
Thank
[Applause]

680
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:39,160
you, Miles.

681
00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:51,079
Don't start the clock yet, Tony.

682
00:58:51,160 --> 00:58:59,359
Scott, I'm going to move over to here if
you want to re adjust the camera on your

683
00:58:56,799 --> 00:59:04,760
You don't have to. Don't. No, no, don't
have to. Don't have to. Please respect

684
00:59:01,440 --> 00:59:04,760
my time.

685
00:59:05,040 --> 00:59:12,880
Don't need the camera over here. I'm
just saying that if you want to. My name

686
00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:18,240
is Manny Nath, a resident of Pepper Pike
for 39

687
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:23,400
years. I'm a professional auditor in
regards to my career in Hitachi. I wrote

688
00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:30,480
the quality I I wrote the quality
manuals.

689
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:34,640
And let me stop with that. In regards to
that I'm going to say to you right now

690
00:59:32,160 --> 00:59:41,880
is the big thing that just came out. You
can't hear me, right? Council, you can't

691
00:59:37,599 --> 00:59:47,200
hear council. You can't hear councel
because the mayor

692
00:59:44,440 --> 00:59:52,880
controls the website. What they're
trying to say to you nicely is that you

693
00:59:50,640 --> 00:59:58,880
can't hear the data that they want to
give you. Okay? because he totally

694
00:59:56,960 --> 01:00:06,400
universally was discussed in the last
council meeting autocratically he is the

695
01:00:02,400 --> 01:00:10,960
only one that controls that venue. So
all the information that they want to

696
01:00:08,799 --> 01:00:16,640
give you all the information that they
want to give you can't hear. That's

697
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:21,119
what's the problem. Okay, that's one of
the problems on here. Okay. So, all of

698
01:00:19,359 --> 01:00:28,079
the things that they wanted to say to
you, okay, are controlled by one branch

699
01:00:24,720 --> 01:00:32,000
of government. Okay. And with that, uh,
let me get back on topic and I'm going

700
01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:38,400
to ask hopefully you people will grant
it on here. We've got another hour on

701
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:43,760
here. The the first presentation, uh,
one residents came up and he spoke for

702
01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:49,480
like 15 20 minutes. Okay. I've been
going to council meetings since 19 uh

703
01:00:47,680 --> 01:00:56,200
I'm sorry since
2019. Every council meeting. Every

704
01:00:52,799 --> 01:01:01,440
council meeting either in person or
remotely. Okay. I've got the data here

705
01:00:59,119 --> 01:01:05,680
to answer the questions that you have
posed. You can decide if you want to

706
01:01:03,920 --> 01:01:11,440
hear them, which was the function of
this meeting, or you could decide, okay,

707
01:01:08,880 --> 01:01:16,079
and I commend the no vote side in
regards to they finally got your

708
01:01:13,359 --> 01:01:21,760
attention to come to a council meeting.
Okay. To come to hear the information.

709
01:01:19,440 --> 01:01:27,280
Congratulations to you. Thank you very
much. Okay. The question is, do you want

710
01:01:24,559 --> 01:01:32,960
to spend the time and hear what the
information is? One of the comments that

711
01:01:29,599 --> 01:01:38,799
was made, you know, is that okay, this
is uh the vote, it was just said the

712
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:43,400
vote was was not fair in regards to
here's the vote

713
01:01:40,440 --> 01:01:49,280
tally specifically
from the city's office from uh Sheila.

714
01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:54,000
Uh a lot of you don't know who Sheila
is, but she's the clerk of of council.

715
01:01:51,680 --> 01:02:00,480
And and with that, these are the nine
people that are on there. Mayor Bane's

716
01:01:56,480 --> 01:02:06,079
number one vote was each person was
given nine votes and with that so a

717
01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:11,119
person can get a total of 72 votes on
here. Mayor Bane's number one person was

718
01:02:09,280 --> 01:02:16,559
Gary Hoffman. He gave nine points to
that person. The number two person that

719
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:22,720
he had on here was Howard Botchnik. He
gave seven points to that person. The

720
01:02:18,960 --> 01:02:27,119
next person was uh Matt Visella. He gave
six points to that person. Okay. And

721
01:02:25,359 --> 01:02:31,839
then it goes down to Scott Bilski. He
gave five points to that person. Okay.

722
01:02:29,839 --> 01:02:36,960
Everybody could have gotten if if
everybody gave everyone a nine. If the

723
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:42,480
if the council and the mayor gave nine
people, you know, the nine votes on

724
01:02:39,280 --> 01:02:50,160
here, the mass you can get was 72. Okay.
So with that, the top person Dagmarfells

725
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:54,000
got 40 votes. Okay. That's, you know,
less than half. Four minutes. Okay.

726
01:02:52,640 --> 01:02:58,559
That's less than half. So the question
is going to be in a minute is whether or

727
01:02:56,319 --> 01:03:04,960
not you want to hear the data. I can
tell you that the the question is look

728
01:03:02,079 --> 01:03:04,960
at objective

729
01:03:05,079 --> 01:03:12,559
evidence. Here's a 15page report on the
objective evidence that you're asking

730
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:16,799
for today. Okay? You can give me a
minute and I'll give you just a quick

731
01:03:14,559 --> 01:03:23,680
overview of what's happened and why it's
happened and why this commission has

732
01:03:21,920 --> 01:03:28,400
recommended what they have. It's not
that they've worked hard and it's not

733
01:03:26,079 --> 01:03:33,039
that they spent uh this time in they
were very talented commission. the

734
01:03:30,559 --> 01:03:39,160
person that was the the the head of the
commission, he's done two other at least

735
01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:46,119
two other charter
reviews. And with that, we have three

736
01:03:43,039 --> 01:03:52,400
lawyers on the commission, people
from the school board and so forth out

737
01:03:48,880 --> 01:03:56,000
here, they did what you didn't have the
time to do. And I understand that before

738
01:03:54,000 --> 01:04:01,200
I retired, I didn't have the time. Five
minutes. Okay. So with that you can ask

739
01:03:59,280 --> 01:04:05,839
you if you want to hear the data that
you're asking for I have it here and I

740
01:04:03,839 --> 01:04:09,960
can show it to you you know present it
you know quickly for you and just give

741
01:04:07,760 --> 01:04:15,760
me the same amount of time that
was given to the other people and I

742
01:04:12,400 --> 01:04:20,160
would say vote yes rely on the data that
these people Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very

743
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:25,799
much on that. Okay. So I can give you
the data. Question is do you want it?

744
01:04:26,079 --> 01:04:32,000
You want it?
You don't want it. We have no

745
01:04:29,839 --> 01:04:35,000
disrespect.
Okay.

746
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:43,960
So, you just heard the answer. They
don't want the data.

747
01:04:48,079 --> 01:04:53,720
Is there anybody who hasn't spoken who
wants to speak?

748
01:04:53,960 --> 01:05:00,280
Sir, we need to have everybody's you can
come up again later.

749
01:05:02,000 --> 01:05:10,720
My name is uh Bruce Rinker. I'm at 30949
Pineree Road. Uh I spoke at the first

750
01:05:07,599 --> 01:05:15,280
meeting. I didn't at the second. And u I
want to give you a little understanding

751
01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:19,039
of my background, but I'm going to be
voting no. And there are two primary

752
01:05:17,280 --> 01:05:24,760
reasons.
one, I think the process could have been

753
01:05:21,839 --> 01:05:30,079
handled much better than it was by
council. And then second, while it's

754
01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:34,400
important to do upgrades, and I think
there were a lot of points in this

755
01:05:32,319 --> 01:05:40,400
charter that one could characterize as
being upgrades, u some as

756
01:05:37,960 --> 01:05:46,079
meritorious, but there are also
provisions in here that clearly shift

757
01:05:44,079 --> 01:05:51,400
from the executive branch to the
legislative branch powers to the council

758
01:05:49,440 --> 01:05:55,960
that it does not currently
have. As for the process, uh there's

759
01:05:54,720 --> 01:05:59,400
been a lot of discussion about
walkability and comparing this process

760
01:05:58,559 --> 01:06:05,520
with
that. My recollection is that a few

761
01:06:02,640 --> 01:06:10,079
years ago, Mayor Bane came up with an
approach for putting a trail in Gates

762
01:06:07,359 --> 01:06:17,039
Mills Boulevard. What did council do
then? Council put on the brakes. Council

763
01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:22,880
was insistent that it get full and broad
public input on that whole process. And

764
01:06:20,640 --> 01:06:28,440
ultimately there were four different
surveys, communitywide surveys. The

765
01:06:25,359 --> 01:06:34,319
fourth survey was a referendum vote,
non-binding, but advisory to tell the

766
01:06:31,160 --> 01:06:39,920
council we want it or we don't want it.
It took all that time and that effort

767
01:06:37,520 --> 01:06:46,359
and I think anyone can say whatever
their view about it, it was a process

768
01:06:42,720 --> 01:06:53,760
that required full civic
engagement. This one, Mr. Gentill's

769
01:06:49,680 --> 01:07:00,079
alarm clock was set for May 6, 2025 at
the very beginning of the process of

770
01:06:56,640 --> 01:07:04,240
charter review. Council legislated how
the charter review process would be

771
01:07:01,960 --> 01:07:08,960
conducted, put a deadline for the
commission, and the commission worked

772
01:07:05,839 --> 01:07:15,079
hard steadily to meet that deadline
between the end of July to the middle of

773
01:07:11,799 --> 01:07:22,079
December. Council in three successive
meetings move the matter to the ballot.

774
01:07:19,200 --> 01:07:26,480
And that's a problem. That would have
been the point. That was the pivot point

775
01:07:23,680 --> 01:07:32,720
where a council instead of pointing to
the commission could have said, "All

776
01:07:28,720 --> 01:07:37,839
right, this is the draft now. Residents,
take a look at it. Let's get together.

777
01:07:35,440 --> 01:07:44,839
Let's figure it all out." There was
never any outside consultant. This was

778
01:07:41,520 --> 01:07:51,680
hard work from people, but the specific
provisions are many.

779
01:07:48,160 --> 01:07:56,160
It is almost impossible for anybody to
understand

780
01:07:52,760 --> 01:08:02,720
those. I'm an attorney that I retired at
the beginning of the year. I worked for

781
01:07:59,440 --> 01:08:07,680
30 years in municipal and governmental
land use planning and zoning matters. I

782
01:08:05,599 --> 01:08:13,760
represented private clients and
represented agencies and governments,

783
01:08:10,880 --> 01:08:18,080
both sides of the fence. I was a
councilman in Mayfield Village for five

784
01:08:15,680 --> 01:08:23,279
years, two as a president and I was
mayor for 23 years and I'm currently one

785
01:08:21,839 --> 01:08:30,000
of the commissioners on the Cleveland
metrop parks. I look at all of these

786
01:08:27,120 --> 01:08:34,600
details and they give me pause. As I
said, I think a number of these are

787
01:08:31,799 --> 01:08:40,640
meritorious, but they're worth having
everybody understand them before having

788
01:08:37,440 --> 01:08:45,400
to vote upon them. The biggest problem I
have deals with article 5. That's the

789
01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:50,080
administration. That's the executive
branch of this

790
01:08:47,480 --> 01:08:54,719
government. Council currently does not
have the powers that this charter will

791
01:08:51,920 --> 01:08:59,520
give it. It can fire the law director,
fire the finance director without cause.

792
01:08:58,000 --> 01:09:05,359
That should be the mayor's job, the
chief executive, not seven council

793
01:09:02,480 --> 01:09:09,600
people getting together without the
mayor's involvement in making that

794
01:09:07,600 --> 01:09:13,960
decision.
They have the right to define every

795
01:09:11,920 --> 01:09:18,799
single individual job in the
administration. And finally, they remove

796
01:09:16,319 --> 01:09:24,880
the mayor from the planning commission,
which is an integral executive function.

797
01:09:22,719 --> 01:09:30,560
And there's no rationale given other
than what we see in the minutes, an

798
01:09:26,799 --> 01:09:35,600
evident mistrust of th this mayor and a
desire to have council be more objective

799
01:09:33,120 --> 01:09:42,319
than it believes the mayor can be for an
administrative position.

800
01:09:38,640 --> 01:09:47,040
Time out. Vote no. And let's start it
over again. Some of these definitely

801
01:09:44,560 --> 01:09:52,560
deserve better discussion and I think
ultimately could be voted up. Some of

802
01:09:49,279 --> 01:09:55,440
these should not be. Please vote no.
Let's try to do

803
01:09:55,730 --> 01:10:00,070
[Applause]

804
01:10:01,239 --> 01:10:06,440
better. Anybody else who hasn't spoken?

805
01:10:23,440 --> 01:10:31,520
Wait, wait to start the timer here until
I get this

806
01:10:27,480 --> 01:10:37,080
free. Okay, good morning. I have good
news and bad news. Uh, the good news is

807
01:10:33,520 --> 01:10:42,880
I did not prepare a speech. The bad news
is I did not prepare a speech. So, let's

808
01:10:40,480 --> 01:10:46,239
see how this goes. Um, I got a one
question first. What is your name? Oh,

809
01:10:44,719 --> 01:10:51,360
thank you. That I do that every single
time. Thank you so much. William

810
01:10:47,920 --> 01:10:54,800
Thompson, uh, 30500 Providence. Um, I
got start off with a question here. Um,

811
01:10:53,600 --> 01:10:58,560
where are the other four council
members?

812
01:10:56,320 --> 01:11:03,280
I think this is kind of important.
Probably should have been done when they

813
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:05,920
could be here. Um, sidewalks. You
probably know me from the sidewalk

814
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:10,480
conversation. I remember that. In fact,
sidewalks is what sucked me into the

815
01:11:07,600 --> 01:11:14,880
local politics here. I remember going to
the third one and thinking, "How come

816
01:11:12,239 --> 01:11:19,199
they're not speaking as we're talking?"
But then I remember, oh, what happened

817
01:11:17,280 --> 01:11:24,239
up front was the city engineer. That's
who talked. The city engineer came up

818
01:11:21,840 --> 01:11:29,520
and gave a very clear presentation from
the city engineers perspective. So yes,

819
01:11:27,760 --> 01:11:33,120
there was there was input, but it was
not from the mayor and it was not from

820
01:11:30,880 --> 01:11:37,360
council. They sat there and listened.
Okay, I saw those town halls as us

821
01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:41,400
talking to each other. And I'm going to
say something else. Who knows what a

822
01:11:39,199 --> 01:11:46,199
sidewalk
is? A lot of hands should be going up.

823
01:11:43,880 --> 01:11:51,600
Okay, that's not really complicated
question if you want them or not. You

824
01:11:49,199 --> 01:11:57,360
know what they are. Who's ever read the
city charter prior to

825
01:11:54,040 --> 01:12:02,560
this? see a lot of hands probably down.
You might have, but you know, good for

826
01:11:59,320 --> 01:12:07,120
you. It's a extremely different
situation. So, it's really not fair to

827
01:12:04,719 --> 01:12:11,679
compare the sidewalks to do you want
sidewalks or not. A fairly simple

828
01:12:08,880 --> 01:12:18,480
proposition to hey, I think we should
change a a math how our city is run. Not

829
01:12:14,560 --> 01:12:24,080
the same thing at all. Um, see, I'm not
doing too bad. U council president.

830
01:12:21,840 --> 01:12:30,400
Yes, 85% of the cities have a council of
president, but number one, so like that

831
01:12:28,960 --> 01:12:35,760
does not mean it's better for Pepper
Pike. And what the omission is to a good

832
01:12:33,840 --> 01:12:41,040
number of them, guess who picks the
council

833
01:12:37,960 --> 01:12:44,880
president? The city. You vote for that
person. In a good number of those, I

834
01:12:42,880 --> 01:12:49,520
have yet to hear that mentioned. It's
true.

835
01:12:46,960 --> 01:12:54,320
Um, I also hear the mayor about the
mayor picking people for the planning

836
01:12:51,400 --> 01:12:59,520
commission. Okay, I'll just say it. I I
wanted to vote for Jill Stein. Fine,

837
01:12:56,880 --> 01:13:04,000
like it or not. But I wanted to vote for
Jill Stein. You know why I

838
01:13:01,239 --> 01:13:11,199
didn't? There's no way in God's green
earth she's going to win cuz I get one

839
01:13:07,679 --> 01:13:17,440
vote. So, I have to pick from two people
that I don't like. So, I picked the

840
01:13:14,640 --> 01:13:21,840
person that was the most acceptable for
what I wanted to do cuz I I was not

841
01:13:19,520 --> 01:13:27,679
going to get who I wanted. So, think
about that. When somebody has one vote

842
01:13:24,239 --> 01:13:31,600
out of eight, they're likely to pick the
most. Except it doesn't mean it's

843
01:13:29,040 --> 01:13:36,719
necessarily an endorsement. Or maybe it
was, but it does not necessarily mean

844
01:13:33,520 --> 01:13:42,480
that it was. Um, how we doing on time?
49 seconds. Minute. Thank you. I'm

845
01:13:39,600 --> 01:13:47,520
sorry. Minute 55. Great. Thank you. I'm
doing all

846
01:13:43,800 --> 01:13:52,400
right. And in in some Asian I I started
talking to people doortodoor and 30

847
01:13:50,159 --> 01:13:55,480
people in a row I said started talking
about the charter issue. The first thing

848
01:13:54,480 --> 01:14:00,239
they said
was

849
01:13:57,640 --> 01:14:07,000
what? You know the issue to change the
change the charter on the ballot? Uh I I

850
01:14:03,120 --> 01:14:11,520
heard something about a charter like
uhoh. That's a major major problem that

851
01:14:09,920 --> 01:14:17,560
I think we've spoken to a few times
today as far as people are just not even

852
01:14:14,600 --> 01:14:22,960
aware that the change to how our city is
run is even up for even up for debate

853
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:27,440
and discussion. And then oh my goodness,
you get out this I'm not a lawyer. I

854
01:14:25,440 --> 01:14:30,400
read the red line more times than I to.
Thank you.

855
01:14:30,440 --> 01:14:40,480
Um I'm just going to echo Mr. Rinker's
comments that way, way too much, way too

856
01:14:38,360 --> 01:14:46,000
fast. Are there probably some things
that could be corrected or fixed? Of

857
01:14:42,960 --> 01:14:51,679
course, but not like this. This is way
too much way too quickly. And you know

858
01:14:48,000 --> 01:14:56,400
what? The city is doing awesome. 93%
property values in the last decade. They

859
01:14:53,440 --> 01:14:59,440
looked national average is 50. We're
doing really, really well. I kind of

860
01:14:58,159 --> 01:15:04,840
don't want to mess with that how our
city is run. So that's it. Thank you.

861
01:15:01,520 --> 01:15:04,840
You vote no.

862
01:15:06,640 --> 01:15:11,360
Am I going to be last? Anyone else? I
threatened to sing last time. Let's see

863
01:15:09,440 --> 01:15:17,560
if I do it. Anyone else who hasn't
spoken?

864
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:17,560
Oh, yeah. Yes,

865
01:15:19,280 --> 01:15:27,120
that's a bad idea.
I promise you all this will not be five

866
01:15:24,800 --> 01:15:31,679
minutes. It's my birthday and I have to
go home with grandkids and

867
01:15:29,560 --> 01:15:38,120
[Applause]
Thank you. I'm 19 now.

868
01:15:35,320 --> 01:15:44,719
Plus, I want to just just say
this. I'm, as I mentioned, I'm a new

869
01:15:41,480 --> 01:15:48,719
resident. And being a new resident and
hoping and seeing I I moved here because

870
01:15:46,480 --> 01:15:51,840
boy, Pepper Pike got a great reputation.
Who wouldn't want to move to Pepper

871
01:15:49,760 --> 01:15:55,120
Pike? Who would not actually? And so
forth. And so, boy, they're doing some

872
01:15:53,520 --> 01:15:58,239
things right over there, B. I'm can't
wait to move in, get my new home, do the

873
01:15:56,960 --> 01:16:03,199
things I'm going to do, the things, my
future, and so forth, whatever. I'm very

874
01:16:00,000 --> 01:16:07,440
very pleased to be able to do that. Very
pleased. And you got here because you're

875
01:16:05,520 --> 01:16:12,800
interested in get being better. Not just
good, but being better. And that's what

876
01:16:09,679 --> 01:16:19,520
counts. I say my concern tonight or
right today. My concern right now is

877
01:16:16,920 --> 01:16:25,000
that and I'm not turning my back on you
because I do think these are public

878
01:16:21,920 --> 01:16:32,480
servants and thank you. Thank you all of
you. Thank you. who serve on committees

879
01:16:29,600 --> 01:16:36,080
who are appointed by council or acted by
council people whatever to hey we need

880
01:16:34,400 --> 01:16:39,679
some help we're serving on this board
can't get done by just these people up

881
01:16:37,760 --> 01:16:44,000
here and it can't be understood by just
the attorney or by the mayor and so

882
01:16:41,679 --> 01:16:50,400
forth what I'm hearing though what
scares me is what I've been seeing

883
01:16:46,880 --> 01:16:55,440
before is everybody draws the line in
the sand saying that we can't get past

884
01:16:52,159 --> 01:17:00,719
that that stops trying to get not good
but be better. And what I'm seeing here

885
01:16:58,080 --> 01:17:05,440
right now and I got I got to go and
that's why I wanted to I'm late or be

886
01:17:03,040 --> 01:17:09,600
late but I need to say we're going to do
better than this and I'm saying we're

887
01:17:06,719 --> 01:17:13,600
going to I think we have to this line is
drawn in the sand saying yes and no

888
01:17:10,960 --> 01:17:15,920
today and because of what we think it's
the right thing and all of us got

889
01:17:14,560 --> 01:17:18,560
opinions because we think we're doing
the right things not only for our

890
01:17:17,199 --> 01:17:22,880
families but for the community and so
forth. I think that's very important to

891
01:17:19,920 --> 01:17:28,000
stay in front of and do. But I think
what we're hearing is is that man, we

892
01:17:25,840 --> 01:17:33,040
need to go back an example put a
framework in place of us in terms of how

893
01:17:29,760 --> 01:17:37,120
do we do this better to get to this
stuck point this yes no before we have

894
01:17:35,440 --> 01:17:42,480
to get to the yes no this early in the
game and I think that's a very important

895
01:17:39,199 --> 01:17:49,120
thing I think looking at it that okay
hear us both you hear them they hear you

896
01:17:46,719 --> 01:17:53,199
what do we do to get the yes no thing
understood better and how do we do this

897
01:17:51,520 --> 01:17:59,199
going forward in terms of even if we're
going to hire a not a planner but even a

898
01:17:56,640 --> 01:18:04,080
a service worker is that is everything
being done okay to the best of our

899
01:18:00,800 --> 01:18:10,080
interest to be better not just good and
go for it. I leave here right now with

900
01:18:07,400 --> 01:18:14,640
man I hope we can come to some kind of
format that that can be developed and

901
01:18:11,760 --> 01:18:19,199
done because you are good pepper great
okay and I look forward to staying here

902
01:18:15,760 --> 01:18:22,800
you for a long god let me uh stay here
and do my part and so forth so I that's

903
01:18:21,440 --> 01:18:26,560
what I'm going to say and I apologize
for having to leave and go out but I got

904
01:18:25,280 --> 01:18:31,360
some grandkids and so forth probably
waiting to cut that cake and I want to

905
01:18:27,840 --> 01:18:35,199
be cut my own cake so thank you for
having me and let me speak again thanks

906
01:18:37,040 --> 01:18:47,120
Happy birthday, sir. Thank you. Anyone
else? It's back to you before I break.

907
01:18:44,560 --> 01:18:47,120
Anyone else?

908
01:18:58,800 --> 01:19:09,440
First of all, uh I'm voting no for this.
Gerard Marta Savage 296000 Ship

909
01:19:06,960 --> 01:19:17,280
Boulevard. I'm voting no for this. But
one of my really uh uh issues tonight is

910
01:19:14,159 --> 01:19:20,640
or tent this morning is where are four
council

911
01:19:18,199 --> 01:19:26,679
members? This is an important issue with
our city of Pepper Pike. Where are they?

912
01:19:23,679 --> 01:19:31,760
Why aren't they here? This is
wrong. When council members said, "Oh,

913
01:19:29,120 --> 01:19:36,080
you can communicate with us anytime."
When uh residents are telling us now

914
01:19:33,760 --> 01:19:41,520
that that when they send emails, they
don't respond.

915
01:19:37,920 --> 01:19:46,800
So, uh, I'm disappointed in that when
Miss Jared, I I totally understand your

916
01:19:43,560 --> 01:19:51,360
frustration. I I really do. I know, uh,
there was a you you all your committee

917
01:19:48,719 --> 01:19:56,239
members, uh, put a lot of effort in this
and, uh, there when we went to city

918
01:19:53,840 --> 01:20:01,920
council, we were told that there was
going to be nine commission members.

919
01:19:59,520 --> 01:20:06,640
We sat there in the in the in the uh in
the uh audience of a city or in the

920
01:20:04,000 --> 01:20:12,560
Pepper Pike council meeting and all of a
sudden three more show up. It was a a

921
01:20:08,880 --> 01:20:16,400
council. We were never informed or never
uh informed that the three council

922
01:20:14,400 --> 01:20:21,840
members were going to be included in the
conversation. We heard so many times

923
01:20:18,560 --> 01:20:25,040
where they're intelligent people uh on
the

924
01:20:23,239 --> 01:20:28,640
commission. Well, if they were
intelligent people, wouldn't they say,

925
01:20:26,640 --> 01:20:33,159
"We got this. We could handle this on
our

926
01:20:29,640 --> 01:20:39,679
own." Uh, I'm I'm very disappointed in
that. Uh, my wife and I started the u uh

927
01:20:37,920 --> 01:20:44,000
political action committee for sidewalks
and obviously we've been very

928
01:20:41,400 --> 01:20:49,600
successful. And what what was
interesting is the

929
01:20:45,880 --> 01:20:54,280
timing. Uh, council members were not uh
for sidewalks. They would not take a

930
01:20:51,679 --> 01:20:59,440
sign. They would not say we're we're for
sidewalks. Uh some of their family

931
01:20:57,280 --> 01:21:06,000
members even had no signs on their uh
front yards. Uh and then they come back

932
01:21:02,400 --> 01:21:12,080
and say we voted for sidewalks. Really?
You voted for sidewalks? My god, you had

933
01:21:08,880 --> 01:21:18,320
three uh surveys and a vote. Uh who
wouldn't vote for it? That would be

934
01:21:15,159 --> 01:21:23,920
suicide. So uh I'm I'm advising all of
you this is this is rushed. We had we

935
01:21:21,520 --> 01:21:28,320
were hoping that the commission would
come and give a report at a council

936
01:21:25,760 --> 01:21:33,760
meeting. We were very we were hoping
that you would give a report like most

937
01:21:30,880 --> 01:21:37,840
uh uh committees so we can hear what's
going

938
01:21:34,840 --> 01:21:44,239
on. We were very disappointed that the
commission was shut down. Why? What's

939
01:21:41,280 --> 01:21:50,400
the rush? We were very disappointed when
we requested letters. The letters aren't

940
01:21:47,920 --> 01:21:54,719
available anymore. Why are the letter
letters no longer available anymore?

941
01:21:52,480 --> 01:21:59,840
I've asked the president or the the
committee chairman. I've asked the

942
01:21:56,400 --> 01:22:03,679
secretary for the for the letters. U the
the chairman says we don't have them

943
01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:10,239
anymore. This I haven't heard back from
the secretary. So um and then I was

944
01:22:07,679 --> 01:22:15,600
really surprised to hear that the
commission didn't know anything anything

945
01:22:12,560 --> 01:22:22,280
about this letter. the letter that the
the vote no people uh for sidewalks

946
01:22:18,960 --> 01:22:27,199
submitted to council in November of
23 because they were so upset with the

947
01:22:24,800 --> 01:22:32,159
uh the the yes vote for sidewalks. They
wanted a uh a charter review. Very

948
01:22:30,639 --> 01:22:35,440
interesting. I couldn't believe that
some of the uh charter review commission

949
01:22:33,840 --> 01:22:39,639
members didn't even or weren't even
aware of this letter. They keep talk

950
01:22:37,920 --> 01:22:44,080
council keep talking about uh
transparency. Why don't they put this

951
01:22:41,840 --> 01:22:46,320
information on the website so everyone
can

952
01:22:47,080 --> 01:22:55,360
see I uh as a as a committee member for
vote no uh uh as some of your other

953
01:22:54,000 --> 01:23:00,360
committee members uh we're putting up
the sign we're going

954
01:22:57,840 --> 01:23:05,360
people were confused people were very
confused in the charter review

955
01:23:02,639 --> 01:23:11,679
commission notes it said that there was
going to be town halls early in the

956
01:23:08,600 --> 01:23:16,560
fall why did that why did not that not
happen? Why are we having town halls

957
01:23:14,080 --> 01:23:23,120
now? This is totally ridiculous. It's
already at the uh uh uh up for a vote.

958
01:23:21,280 --> 01:23:28,639
We've talked to a lot of the residents
in this community at Pepper Pike. Uh

959
01:23:26,239 --> 01:23:33,199
most of the former council members, the
majority of the council members are

960
01:23:30,239 --> 01:23:39,840
against this change. Uh they're all
listed on here. Some of them said they

961
01:23:35,679 --> 01:23:43,600
were voting no for it and uh uh but they
didn't want to be listed and they they

962
01:23:41,199 --> 01:23:50,560
didn't want to sign it. Former mayor,
mayor uh Bruce Acres was uh talked to

963
01:23:47,280 --> 01:23:55,719
about this. He's voting no. So, this is
a very poor process and it's a poor

964
01:23:54,480 --> 01:24:02,159
piece of
legislation. So, I recommend everyone

965
01:23:58,320 --> 01:24:06,480
vote no for this charter uh repeal. And
if you want any documents or any

966
01:24:04,080 --> 01:24:09,360
information that I was able to find,
you're welcome to come and see me and

967
01:24:07,840 --> 01:24:12,600
I'll give you all that I have. Thank you
very much.

968
01:24:14,080 --> 01:24:20,480
My phone.
I found the phone up here. My phone's

969
01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:26,719
gone. I'm your phone. Literally grabbing
my phone. Like where's my phone?

970
01:24:24,560 --> 01:24:30,000
Hi, Fred WB resident. So, I just wanted
to address I uh conflict of interest

971
01:24:29,120 --> 01:24:33,199
saying I don't think we actually
disagree, but we only have 5 minutes. I

972
01:24:31,840 --> 01:24:36,800
can't get my output. Yes, I agree with
what you said. I saw in the meeting

973
01:24:35,120 --> 01:24:39,840
minutes where the law director said
conflict of interest by Ohio revised

974
01:24:38,400 --> 01:24:42,960
code or wherever that is. I forget which
number it is. That's fine. And I don't

975
01:24:41,440 --> 01:24:46,960
think we disagree on that. I mean, it's
important, but a charter can provide

976
01:24:45,199 --> 01:24:51,040
more restriction than Ohio law, you
know, does. You can restrict things

977
01:24:48,239 --> 01:24:55,120
more. And so my position which is not
well I was busy no Ohio law allows

978
01:24:53,679 --> 01:24:59,199
conflict of interest and there's rules
about recusing yourself disclosing it

979
01:24:56,800 --> 01:25:03,440
yada yada yada but in teeny town USA
with teeny I'm sorry I say that with

980
01:25:01,120 --> 01:25:07,679
affection. I love being in teeny town
USA and having a teeny mini city

981
01:25:05,040 --> 01:25:11,600
council. Sorry if it came out but I
would be a little bit more restrictive

982
01:25:09,440 --> 01:25:16,480
and say if I I don't want any conflict
of interest which is beyond the scope of

983
01:25:14,000 --> 01:25:20,000
this discussion. I just want to be clear
that within five minutes I couldn't get

984
01:25:18,239 --> 01:25:24,000
that out. So I agree with what you said.
I just want would want that in and that

985
01:25:21,600 --> 01:25:27,440
would be a discussion we would have back
to my original point. See how I work

986
01:25:25,440 --> 01:25:32,320
that around is I think we didn't finish
it. Not we. Yeah. Anyway, that's

987
01:25:32,440 --> 01:25:37,800
thanks. There's no way this Oh, it does.

988
01:25:43,040 --> 01:25:46,080
Anyone else?

989
01:25:58,639 --> 01:26:06,639
very interesting some of the things that
uh Mr. Bark Savage just

990
01:26:03,560 --> 01:26:12,480
said council I the charter commission
could have handled this on their

991
01:26:09,800 --> 01:26:17,360
own. This is in the last meeting there
was a person that came up spoke very

992
01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:24,440
well for the say no position and she
said FUD never heard of FUD. FUD means

993
01:26:22,280 --> 01:26:29,840
fear
uncertainty doubt. Okay that's what

994
01:26:27,120 --> 01:26:33,360
they're casting on here. He just said,
"Okay, they could have handled this on

995
01:26:31,600 --> 01:26:38,639
their own." Can you imagine if they
didn't ask the council people what they

996
01:26:35,800 --> 01:26:44,880
felt? Can you imagine if he if they
didn't ask the residents what they felt?

997
01:26:42,400 --> 01:26:51,040
Okay, can you imagine that in regards to
handle this on their own? Okay, I

998
01:26:47,760 --> 01:26:54,719
attended 16 of the 17 meetings on here.
You're not going to get a finer group of

999
01:26:52,960 --> 01:26:57,760
people. And I'm going to stop talking
about the finer group of people. I'm

1000
01:26:56,159 --> 01:27:04,159
going to talk about the chairman of the
committee is the law

1001
01:27:00,440 --> 01:27:09,600
director in in Twinsburg. Okay. You've
got three other lawyers on here. You we

1002
01:27:06,639 --> 01:27:14,719
we spent thousands upon thousands of
dollars to have the legal our legal

1003
01:27:12,639 --> 01:27:19,920
director, our law director there at the
meetings on here. All of these people

1004
01:27:17,360 --> 01:27:25,360
got the information that this committee
asked for. Okay. one of the people that

1005
01:27:22,560 --> 01:27:29,280
that uh you know so to say uh you know
again this FUD item that the no thing is

1006
01:27:27,679 --> 01:27:33,280
saying they could handle this on their
own. They wanted the input from you

1007
01:27:31,040 --> 01:27:38,800
folks. They want the input from council.
They're living on it every day. Okay.

1008
01:27:35,760 --> 01:27:46,080
And and with that this committee went
over let's see the president of council

1009
01:27:42,000 --> 01:27:48,840
uh 10 20 30 40 some times they discussed
they went back and they discussed that

1010
01:27:47,840 --> 01:27:53,840
40
times. The planning commission, they

1011
01:27:51,360 --> 01:27:58,280
discussed that 20 times. They went back
over

1012
01:27:54,600 --> 01:28:03,600
that. Keeping it simple. They did their
job. They did their job adequately.

1013
01:28:01,600 --> 01:28:07,679
You're never going to get a more
qualified. Again, the guy that was the

1014
01:28:05,840 --> 01:28:11,360
chairman of the committee, he's a law.
He's done this three times for other

1015
01:28:09,360 --> 01:28:14,880
communities. Three or four times. Oh, we
have the exact number on three times.

1016
01:28:13,199 --> 01:28:20,239
Three times for other communities on
here. you're never going to get a more

1017
01:28:18,000 --> 01:28:25,600
thorough review of what's the problem,
you know, is and right now, Mr. Thompson

1018
01:28:23,199 --> 01:28:28,960
who speaks extremely well and thank you
for coming to council meetings, you

1019
01:28:27,199 --> 01:28:33,040
know, on air and bringing up the points.
And again, my first comment was, "Thank

1020
01:28:31,120 --> 01:28:37,199
you for getting people to show up.
There's a person, her name is Luanne

1021
01:28:34,960 --> 01:28:41,520
Bram. She came to council meetings for
years. She was the only person there for

1022
01:28:39,199 --> 01:28:44,480
like 20 years." Council was saying,
"There's nobody there." So, finally, we

1023
01:28:43,280 --> 01:28:49,600
got people that are listening. So,
please listen, okay, to what's, you

1024
01:28:46,960 --> 01:28:55,760
know, being said. Mr. Thompson said in
and this is a an item that he gave to

1025
01:28:52,239 --> 01:29:02,480
the to the commission. Let's be honest.
There are problems between the mayor and

1026
01:28:57,920 --> 01:29:05,920
the council. It's not hard to see. Okay.
And with that, they looked at that and

1027
01:29:04,480 --> 01:29:10,159
they looked at the other inputs that
people gave and they came to their

1028
01:29:08,120 --> 01:29:17,360
conclusions. Okay? And they came to
their conclusions. And with that, trust

1029
01:29:13,840 --> 01:29:22,120
them. Okay, we all laugh about social
media and the and the and the the toxic

1030
01:29:20,000 --> 01:29:26,000
environment that's in and the
misrepresentation. Trust, you know, them

1031
01:29:24,400 --> 01:29:31,760
on here. They talked about, you know,
the sidewalks on here. The first again

1032
01:29:29,120 --> 01:29:38,080
this FUD item of fear and things like
that. Council approved the sidewalks.

1033
01:29:35,199 --> 01:29:42,880
First meeting that I was presented,
okay? you know, on there. The mayor

1034
01:29:40,080 --> 01:29:47,920
said, "I'm not okay." And that was
February 17th. Okay. Mayor said, I'm

1035
01:29:45,920 --> 01:29:52,880
reading I'm quoting from the minutes,
and this is what was presented to the

1036
01:29:50,719 --> 01:29:56,679
commission. Four minutes. Thank you very
much. The mayor said, uh, I'm not fond

1037
01:29:55,920 --> 01:30:01,600
of
surveys. We get the input from residents

1038
01:29:59,120 --> 01:30:08,719
in in in hearings on here. Bob Free
said, I'm not voting for this unless I

1039
01:30:05,920 --> 01:30:15,199
get a public survey. The reason why he
got three public surveys is because the

1040
01:30:11,280 --> 01:30:20,639
mayor issued his own survey. He didn't
consult with council. Okay? And they had

1041
01:30:18,320 --> 01:30:24,480
to go back three times to get it. And
the last major item then on the

1042
01:30:22,159 --> 01:30:29,600
sidewalks, you've have Jackie Godic
who's a council person that's mainly a

1043
01:30:27,040 --> 01:30:34,320
sidewalk person, you know, who said, "I
really appreciate sidewalks and so forth

1044
01:30:31,520 --> 01:30:39,199
on here." and she's told them on their
on their website, get off of the

1045
01:30:36,560 --> 01:30:44,320
sidewalks already. This is not about
sidewalks. They choose not to listen to

1046
01:30:42,000 --> 01:30:48,880
that advice, you know, on here. So, the
item is the last point, there's so much

1047
01:30:47,360 --> 01:30:55,040
more data that I can give you on here,
but the last point is council could have

1048
01:30:51,679 --> 01:30:58,960
voted down sidewalks. 5 minutes. They
could have voted on sidewalks. They

1049
01:30:56,880 --> 01:31:04,320
could have done it in council with four
votes and killed it. They did what you

1050
01:31:01,360 --> 01:31:10,159
want to do of your representatives. They
put aside what their individual items

1051
01:31:06,159 --> 01:31:14,639
were and they put it on the ballot.
And with that, they could have killed it

1052
01:31:11,600 --> 01:31:21,320
if they wanted to kill it.
Thank you.

1053
01:31:17,600 --> 01:31:21,320
Is there anyone else?

1054
01:31:22,320 --> 01:31:28,480
No one else. I still got five minutes.
Not seeing anyone. Wait, wait. Wait,

1055
01:31:25,760 --> 01:31:33,040
wait, wait a second. They're still time.
You don't get twice. Why not? The

1056
01:31:30,639 --> 01:31:37,840
meeting goes to the meeting goes to you
know Oh, please.

1057
01:31:35,360 --> 01:31:45,360
No, no, no. Okay, we talk twice to
think. The only thing I'm still not

1058
01:31:43,040 --> 01:31:51,040
the only thing I have to say is it seems
that sitting here today listening to all

1059
01:31:47,840 --> 01:31:56,320
this and I appreciate all your great
information why you want to vote no. I

1060
01:31:53,360 --> 01:32:00,159
understand it and I understand Manny's
done a lot of research. I'm not sure

1061
01:31:58,560 --> 01:32:04,719
now. I'm going to have to go over what
Manny has put together and what you have

1062
01:32:02,560 --> 01:32:08,960
all put together. I appreciate all that.
I appreciate all your attendance at the

1063
01:32:06,400 --> 01:32:14,719
council meetings. Right now, from what I
can tell about this today at this town

1064
01:32:11,159 --> 01:32:18,400
hall, is there a conflict between the
mayor, the law director, and the

1065
01:32:16,320 --> 01:32:23,760
council? And I don't like that. I don't
like a conflict. I would love I've loved

1066
01:32:21,360 --> 01:32:29,199
living in Pepper Pike for 55 years. I
agree with everyone. Every everything

1067
01:32:26,159 --> 01:32:34,000
here is run very well. I just don't like
this conflict. I don't like this

1068
01:32:32,000 --> 01:32:39,280
division between our residents right
now. I don't like any of this. I just

1069
01:32:36,560 --> 01:32:44,080
wish it would stop. And I just don't
know whether it's the law director

1070
01:32:41,760 --> 01:32:48,000
making wrong decisions or something's
happening at the top. And I just wish it

1071
01:32:46,159 --> 01:32:51,639
would stop. That's all I have to say.
Thank you so much.

1072
01:32:53,040 --> 01:33:01,120
Thank you.
Yes, ma'am.

1073
01:32:57,490 --> 01:33:06,400
[Music]
Hi, Grace Barber, 33,000 Shaker

1074
01:33:04,000 --> 01:33:09,920
Boulevard. I'd like to access my time to
Manny.

1075
01:33:07,920 --> 01:33:13,159
I'd like to give my time to Manny. My
five minutes.

1076
01:33:14,880 --> 01:33:24,480
Why? Respectfully, Mr. NAF has spoken
twice and respectively at the first

1077
01:33:21,199 --> 01:33:32,159
meeting at the first town hall. The no
side spoke at length for 20 minutes, 15

1078
01:33:28,480 --> 01:33:37,920
minutes, 10 minutes. It's unfair that
only certain voices are heard in our

1079
01:33:34,280 --> 01:33:43,520
community via social media or at council
meetings and that's the the only people

1080
01:33:40,320 --> 01:33:48,080
that get to speak. I am not a public
speaker and I would like to give my time

1081
01:33:45,199 --> 01:33:54,400
to Manny.
No, that's not what you do.

1082
01:33:51,040 --> 01:33:58,800
I I but all due respect, Grace, I think
Okay, I will respect it, but it's

1083
01:33:56,400 --> 01:34:03,800
unfortunate that certain voices are shut
down. Typically, we did limit it and and

1084
01:34:01,199 --> 01:34:09,120
Manny has had 10 minutes and
uh you know, he's he's he's volunteered

1085
01:34:06,560 --> 01:34:13,679
to give this information to anybody who
wants it offline and I think that that's

1086
01:34:10,880 --> 01:34:18,320
that's good enough. But I'd like to also
say the diversionary tactics are

1087
01:34:15,840 --> 01:34:22,310
dividing this um city and it is
disappointing.

1088
01:34:20,000 --> 01:34:28,600
Thank you.
[Music]

1089
01:34:25,440 --> 01:34:28,600
You're watching

1090
01:34:33,920 --> 01:34:44,000
not seeing any new voices. Uh I think we
will uh uh make it a wrap. Thank you

1091
01:34:42,000 --> 01:34:50,000
everybody for your attendance at this
meeting at the prior meetings if you

1092
01:34:46,000 --> 01:34:56,320
made it to those. Uh this is an you know
coming up as an exercise in democracy

1093
01:34:52,719 --> 01:35:02,639
and uh that's a good thing. So uh thank
you very much and uh we'll see you

1094
01:34:59,199 --> 01:35:02,639
around town. Bye.